Senate cyber bid sputters

The Senate’s late-summer race to pass cybersecurity legislation before leaving for recess came to a dead end Thursday when Democrats couldn’t muster enough gas to clear a procedural vote over objections of GOP leaders and many big business lobbies.

The bill required 60 votes to cut off debate and get it to the floor for a vote, but fell short 52-46.

Not even the threat of hackers sabotaging power grids, cutting off water supplies or shutting down the financial system could stir the Senate from its typical gridlock. And prospects aren’t good once senators return in the fall.

The finger pointing has already begun.

Senate Democrats and the White House are blaming Republicans and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Republicans are blaming the Senate Democratic leadership for trying to “steamroll” a bill. And some lawmakers say that there’s enough blame to go around.

"Rarely have I been so disappointed in the Senate's failure to come to grips with a threat to our country that is all these officials have warned us, over and over again, is urgent and must be addressed now," said an impassioned Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) on the floor before the vote. "Not maybe in September, not possibly by the end of the year, not in the next Congress — but now."

The outcome dealt a significant blow to bill sponsors and the White House that could mean yet another year will pass in which Congress couldn't find consensus on the issue.

The measure could come back once lawmakers do after the break: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid pulled his vote at the end, a move that allows him to retry the vote later. And sponsors are hopeful they can still act when they're back in September, but lawmakers acknowledge the clock is running out. For now, the missed opportunity marks just the latest example of the Senate's inability to function when mired in election-year politics and overwhelmed with pressure by high-powered groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

"What broke down in this case? It's standard stuff — failure to compromise, though I must say we feel we compromised quite a lot from our original bill," said Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), the chief architect of the Cybersecurity Act of 2012. "A failure to control one's impulse to see every bill come before the Senate, no matter how important, as nothing more than a vehicle to put on one's favorite political issue or favorite governmental issue unrelated to the cybersecurity of the United States."

It would have been difficult for the Senate to have solicited compromise on cybersecurity reform in the hours before the recess. Lieberman and Collins worked vigorously to revise their original legislation in an effort to grow support among Republican ranks and industry groups. And Reid had even pledged there would be ample opportunity to amend the bill, provided the revisions were relevant to cybersecurity.

But the flickers of hope for passage quickly faded.

Revisions shepherded with the help of Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) picked up notable support, but never satisfied the U.S. Chamber, which mobilized aggressively against the bill and issued a letter telling members it could score support against them.

Aides said that scared some Republicans who simply hadn't followed the cybersecurity debate — and it led Reid and others to turn up the volume with increasingly critical attacks.